On paper the tenth stage in the Giro d’Italia was a day for the sprinters, but it got a different twist and Nicola Boem won the stage from the breakaway, Luka Mezgec took 8th.

The 200km flat course of today’s stage along the Adriatic coast was destined to become a bunch sprint, but the breakaway had different plans.

5 riders formed the full-Italian breakaway group as the sprinters teams Lotto-Soudal, IAM Cycling, Trek Factory Racing, and Team Giant-Alpecin controlled the bunch.

With 15km to the finish in Forli, the break still had 1’51” and that proved to be enough to go for the victory. Italian Nicola Boem (Bardiani – CSF Pro Team) was the first to cross the line in Forli. The bunch sprinted for the 5th place and Mezgec took 8th.

Simon Geschke enjoyed his day in the blue jersey and he will do that again during tomorrow’s stage, as there were barely any points for the mountain classification.

“Together with the other sprinters teams we controlled the breakaway all day. Stammie [Tom Stamsnijder] did most of the work in early stage. The gap was around 4-5 minutes the whole time.

“In the short hilly section, Pelucchi (IAM Cycling) dropped and his team withdrew from the chase. With 50km to go the gap was 2’28” and during the 30km that followed the bunch only got 30” closer.

“Towards the finale, we let Caleb [Fairly] and Cheng [Ji]chase as well, but the bunch had a hard time in approaching the leading group. We did not take the full initiative to close the gap and the other teams weren’t able to close it. At the finish, the leaders only had 18” left, as the bunch sprinted for a 5th place and we took 8th with Luka”, explained Coach Marc Reef after the stage.

“This week there are not so many mountains coming so I am pretty lucky. It was good timing to get the mountains jersey on Sunday so I’m more nervous when I think of the first week," Geschke said.

“We came here with the main goal of winning with Luka. Until now we haven’t succeeded and this stays our main focus to win a stage with Luka. This week we have a couple of chances hopefully.”